ALIVE WITH ALZHEIMER'S

920:393 Topics in Sociology: Visual Sociology
Professor Greenblat

PROJECT 1: Due September 25th

PRODUCTION OPTION: SELF-PORTRAIT WITHOUT SELF

The purpose of this assignment is to communicate information about yourself visually, without including your own image, and with text. The photographs may include objects that are important to you — a car, jewelry, a CD collection, books, etc. The photographs may include places that are important to you — your room, your house or apartment, a park, a shopping mall, a bar, bookstore, or some other place. The photographs may convey intangible moods or feelings, symbolized by certain images, that are important to you — sunsets, night scenes, deep shadows, cloudy or sunny skies, fog, rain. The photographs may include situations or issues that concern you — pollution (visual or atmospheric), consumerism, lack of parking, phony advertising, TV, religious hypocrites, religious affiliation, etc. The photographs may include people who are important to you — parents, spouses, friends, lovers, children, bartenders. The challenge, then, is to tell the reader/viewer about yourself via photographs of objects, places, moods, situations, and/or people. Try to make the photographs specific to you; exclude extraneous information.

Shoot one or two rolls of color print film. If you have a flash or if there is quite a bit of light where you will shoot, you can probably use 200 or 400 ASA film. Otherwise, use a very high speed print film (ASA 1600). Have the film processed in a fast processing lab. Select 6 - 8 prints for your final presentation, write the accompanying text, decide on the display format ( a poster or booklet format is best) and come to class ready to show your work to others and to discuss your decisions.

ANALYSIS OPTION: READING OF A PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPH

This should be a concise, 2-3 page paper, typed in 12 point font, double-spaced, with one inch margins. Your paper should be an attempt to derive meaning from a single personal photograph, drawing upon both the photography itself and your own history and/or the history of your family. The photograph should be one that is actually in your possession (original or copy). You should attach a Xerox copy or a scanned image of the photo to your paper. Your style of writing can be a straightforward exposition or can take the form of creative writing.

The readings by bell hooks and by Erving Goffman (see assignment for 9/11 and 9/13) will be useful for thinking about this assignment. They are intended as an inspiration to encourage your own meditation on the meaning of your personal and family pictures. The photograph you choose may interest you because it reveals much about your family or yourself or conversely it may interest you because it remains a puzzle. A good place to start may be with a careful description of the photograph and what you find to be its significant details.

Here are a few things to think about that may help you to get started:

• Consider the photograph not simply as an image, but as a situation. Under what circumstances was it made? For what purpose? Has the photograph been displayed or shared by your family and how? Has photography played a part in your life and/or that of your family members? On what occasions has the camera been used to record events?
• Is the photograph a projection of the photographer’s own needs and desires or that of the subject’s? Are they different?
• Are there things that are expressed visually about yourself or your family in this photograph that resonate or fail to resonate with what has been expressed by words or actions? Does the photograph represent some truth that you understand about yourself or your family or does it represent a fiction? In what ways does it correspond or fail to correspond to your memory?
• Keep in mind that there are things that this photograph may be able to tell you that it could not tell others because of your personal knowledge of the people and events depicted in the photograph? Does the photograph serve to reveal or to hide these things?

PROJECT 2: Streetwise

Due October 9

This is an exercise in thinking about the different impact photographs have depending upon the context in which they are viewed. For this we will work with Streetwise. You are asked first to view the online version of this at Take notes on your reactions to it. Then you need to go to the library reserve desk at Alexander and look at the book itself, Streetwise by Mary Ellen Mark and Nancy Baker and make notes about how it is different to look at the book version. Finally the film, Streetwise, by Martin Bell, Mary Ellen Mark, and Cheryl McCall, will be shown in class on Wednesday September 27th.

It is important that you look at the book version BEFORE seeing the film. If for any reason you miss class that day, please contact media services immediately to arrange to see it privately. Think about the assignments you have read to this point and the lectures in class through this time. Then write an essay in which you discuss Streetwise, including the impact the three different forms had on you. You should also select the ONE OR TWO IMAGES you found most compelling in the book, attaching a photocopy to the paper. The essay should be approximately 5 pages typed, double spaced, and should be PROOFREAD for spelling, grammar, organization, and flow of ideas.

PROJECT 3: PHOTO-ELICITATION INTERVIEW

Due October 30th

For this project, our focus will be on one of the three themes to be elaborated upon later in the course and in your final project. I recommend that you do Option 1, but it is your choice.

OPTION 1: PRODUCTION OPTION

Part A

1. Find a setting where you can obtain permission to photograph and to do some interviewing, about some aspect of race, nationality, or gender/sexuality that you find to be interesting.

2. Initially photograph in this setting , trying to include many different dimensions of the situation. This may require more than one visit to the setting, perhaps at different times of day or the week. You should shoot one or two rolls of color print film.

3. Have your film processed. Then select a set of 6-10 photographs to use as the basis of a photo-elicitation interview.

Part B

4. With the photographs and a tape recorder in hand, go back to your subjects and interview them for the contents of the photographs and the photo-elicitation theme you wish to explore, following the guidelines in Collier and Collier. Plan a one-half hour interview where your subject will become your "teacher" or "guide" about themselves and their social/cultural world. (If you do not have a tape recorder, try to borrow one from a friend or roommate; we will see if some sharing is possible within the class.)

5. Write a 2-3 page summary of the interview and what you learned from it. Attach the photographs you used or copies of them. They should be numbered, and your summary should refer to them by number when appropriate. Submit the paper, the copies of the photographs, and the tape. All items should have your name on them, and they should be in a large envelope with your name on it.

OPTION 2: ANALYSIS OPTION

Part A

Instead of taking the photographs yourself, carefully construct a set of 6-10 photographs that deal with one of the topics (race, nationality, or gender/sexuality). If you use photocopies, make sure they are of good quality.

Find a respondent who should have some reason to respond to these photos — i.e. someone to whom you think they should be personally meaningful.

Part B